Trade Show TalesBlog

Archive for 2010

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Sacagawea Portable Hybrid Display — 60 Day Guarantee!

May 5th, 2010 Mel White COMMENTS

It’s Back — The Sacagawea 60 Day Guarantee!

Through 7/31/2010, Your Customer will Love the Sacagawea .  . . OR we’ll Take it Back. No Questions.

The Sacagawea has been a SPECTACULAR hit since its introduction last fall. Recently we added the new PS-Series to the already popular P- and T-Series designs. Now there are 54 standard 10 x 10 and 10 x 20 portable trade show kits.

What makes Sacagawea kits so popular?

  • Complete kits starting at $3100
  • Large, lightweight tension fabric graphics
  • Portable assembly with attached knobs
  • Simple shipping in portable roto-molded cases
  • The industry’s BEST in CLASS packaging
  • Optional counters, pedestals, monitor mounts, headers, and workstations
  • Three attractive designs (P, T, and PS-Series) and 51 inline kits

Contact Classic Exhibits or a Classic Exhibits Distributor for all the details. And don’t wait too long. This promotion ends on 7/31/2010.

Tags: ,
Posted in Classic Exhibit Systems, Mel White | No Comments »

Front Runner Silver, Prelude Platinum, and Eco-Fi Lava Changes

May 3rd, 2010 Mel White COMMENTS

Due to production and quality issues with Front Runner Silver, Prelude Platinum, and Eco-Fi Lava, please note the following changes:

  • Front Runner Silver — Discontinued until further notice. We will switch to Koala for all future orders.
  • Prelude Platinum — Discontinued until further notice. We will switch to Shadow for all future orders.
  • Eco-Fi Lava — Effective immediately, on Quadro Pop Up orders ONLY, we will use Front Runner Coal until further notice. Eco-Fi Lava will continue to be the preferred choice on Intro Fabric Panel and Euro LT Modular System orders.

These changes were prompted by stocking and quality issues from the manufacturers. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Classic Exhibit Systems | No Comments »

Word on the Street — April 26th thru April 30th

May 2nd, 2010 Mel White COMMENTS

Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

International Partners Visit

This week was busy both with orders and meetings. But I want to speak in particular about the meetings we held on Monday and Tuesday with our friends and partners from MODUL International.

As many of you remember, Classic Exhibits Inc. purchased a company called Modul USA in 2005. At the time, we were Modul USA’s largest customer. In doing so, we became the exclusive North American Network Partner for MODUL International, and with the purchase, we launched ClassicMODUL.

This was significant for the Classic Exhibits side of the business, but it was even more significant for the MODUL product line in North America (USA, Canada, and Mexico). Our relationship with MODUL International is quite different from Modul USA’s relationship with our German partner. Modul USA was an importer. We are a manufacturer, designer, and contract extruder. In striking our relationship with MODUL International, ClassicMODUL obtained the exclusive extruding rights within North America. Meaning we can (and do) extrude the majority of the profiles sold in North America. In fact, many of the most common profiles we use every day are pushed by an aluminum extrusion provider just a few miles from our location in Portland (which saves on shipping costs and turnaround time).

ClassicMODUL Aluminum Extrusions

www.classicmodul.com

The MODUL relationship has been important for Classic Exhibits, ClassicMODUL, and ClassicMODUL Distributors because it allows us to better manage inventory and to do so at a better cost to our distributors. While price is certainly a key component, it’s inventory control that presents the largest benefit to distributors. We currently have extrusion depots in Portland, OR, serving the West of the Mississippi region of the US and an extrusion depot outside of Hartford, CT serving the East of the Mississippi distribution. Soon we plan to open a location in the Southeast as well to serve from Texas to Florida and from the Carolinas to Missouri.

Well, I am happy to share with you that we reaffirmed our relationship with MODUL in North America this past week, and reviewed some exciting new profiles and accessories. These profiles will be available in the coming months.

On multiple occasions, you have heard me stress the value we place on our partnerships with vendors like Optima Graphics, Eco-systems Sustainable Displays, and Brumark (to name a few). But it is equally rewarding to have such a great relationship with our European partners. Relationships like the one we have with MODUL International allow us to better serve our distribution and manufacturing here in the States for years to come.

A special thanks to James and Bernd for their time, ideas, and partnership. James and Bernd — Be sure to spread the good word in Europe about the excellent Oregon Pinot Noir wines you discovered during your trip. And, yes, it did rain nearly every day you were here, but that only lasts for nine months. 🙂

Be well and have a safe and restful weekend.

–Kevin Carty

http://twitter.com/kevin_carty
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kevin-carty/3/800/32a

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Kevin Carty, Word on the Street | No Comments »

Shooting from the Hip — 1.10

April 29th, 2010 Mel White COMMENTS
Shooting from the Hip (trade show tips)

Shooting from the Hip

Starting this week, you will see a weekly blog posting from me, typically not more than a paragraph or two (or three). Look for it on Wednesday or Thursday.

I intend to write about the ups and downs (hopefully more ups) of our customers and share their success stories. Since failure is not an option, I won’t give credence (not Clearwater Revival) to anyone’s misfortune. And yes, there will be things blogged here that have no relevance to the exhibit industry. There will be travel tips. There will be hunting and fishing updates. But mostly, it will be about the trade show life we have chosen for our careers.

Interestingly enough, for late April almost May, there is a fair amount of business activity.  It seems like companies have neglected their trade show marketing long enough, and we’re seeing more orders and quotes. I am not talking about fantasyland 20 x 20 islands with a $4500 budget and a lot of backlit graphics. I am talking about 10 x 20 inlines with $35k budgets. Hugh Baldus from The Baldus Company actually closed one of those last week with a SIX WEEK LEAD TIME.  I’m hearing about an order for multiple Perfect 10 Displays. Portable hybrids being sung in any tune has a nice ring to it, and Scott Lindsay from The Lindsay Exhibit Group is singing that song. Conversations with distributors are happy for a change. It isn’t all doom and gloom.

The steelhead are still in the river.  The grouse are drumming in the evening.  Spring is in the air.  Until next week . . .

–Reid Sherwood
reid@classicmodul.com

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Reid Sherwood, Shooting from the Hip | No Comments »

Word on the Street — April 19th thru April 23rd

April 25th, 2010 Mel White 1 COMMENT

Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

R & D:  Seven (Not so Simple) Steps

Just writing “Seven Steps” makes it sound so simple, like it has a defined start and finish. But if you do much of it, you know it’s a living, breathing thing that never really rests. To stay ahead, you have to constantly be thinking of innovative and practical designs for your customers (See Design Monday this week for example).

Coming off my last trip that living, breathing thing was full of life. This week was all about intensive R & D planning on a series of exciting products rolling out over the next nine months. More products in a compressed time frame than I can ever remember.

So, how do you approach R & D? What are some of the steps you take? For me, I try to keep it the same and maintain a process.

My basic steps are:

  1. Develop a basic idea with a trusted team of people and partners. These can be vendors, Classic Exhibits employees from various departments, customers, or all of the above.
  2. Put the concept to paper with a great design team. I like to utilize both internal and external designers and engineers for this step. It gives you the best shot at something truly unique and infuses it with several different design perspectives.
  3. Give the designs to a trusted group of builders/creators: our Production Engineer, shop guys, and project managers. 🙂
    They know how to transform the impractical into the practical and how to re-engineer the needlessly complex into the real world simple.
  4. Get input on the initial product demos from trusted industry partners and customers. This is the tire kicking step. Will it sell and does it function according to plan? Then send it on the road to see if it’s durable.
  5. Rework it after you receive feedback.
  6. Turn over the final product details to Marketing to make it pretty on paper and e-broadcasts.
  7. Release the product to the Distributor Network.

Visionary Designs VK-1017

Now as I re-read those Seven Steps, it seems too simple, and we all know it’s not. More than anything, if you take the time to ask for input from a trusted team inside your own building and a trusted team inside your industry network, you give yourself the best chance at success. But even with all that, sometimes products never really take off  . . . or at least take a long time to take off. Look at the Visionary Designs VK-1017 for example. We spent a long time developing that kit, and it was just one kit. After we released it, it did nothing for nearly two years. Yet, when we were developing it, we were convinced that it would be a home run.

That was over three years ago. Now it sells quite well and is a very popular kit. So you never know what will be an immediate hit, what will fail, and what will take months or years to find an audience.

Take the Perfect 10 — a great example of a product line where we followed all Seven Steps to a “T.” And once released, it clicked conceptually. People loved it! Loved the design . . . loved the price . . . loved the packaging . . . loved it all.

In the end, I will always follow the Seven Steps, even though they are not so simple. I believe it gives us the best chance at success as we develop new products and designs.

How about you? What are your thoughts about Research and Development in our industry? Please comment.

Be well and have a safe and restful weekend.

–Kevin Carty

http://twitter.com/kevin_carty
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kevin-carty/3/800/32a

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Kevin Carty, Word on the Street | 1 Comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »